This unusual weathervane was photographed near the entrance to the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument in Colorado. We passed this weathervane and didn't understand the significance of this odd piece of art until after we saw the displays of the fossils in the visitor center. Scroll down to see the sign for the National Park entrance.
34 million years ago, during the Eocene period, this valley was a lush lake surrounded by sequoia trees. A nearby volcano exploded and the volcanic ash covered the lake (similar to Pompeii) and any plants, insects, or animals were preserved in the fine layers of ash, clay and mud which became shale. Now the lake bed is surrounded by a petrified forest of tree stumps, and the shale fossil beds have yielded many fossilized insects, fish, parts of small mammals, and plants.
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| This is the famous Florissant bee |
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| A leaf captured as a finely detailed fossil |
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| Petrified stumps of giant sequoia trees |
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| These layers of shale yield many fossils from the ancient lake bed |
Another petrified sequoia stump
Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument website: https://www.nps.gov/flfo/index.htm
Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument at Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florissant_Fossil_Beds_National_Monument
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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Weathervane Wednesday - A Fossilized Bee", Nutfield Genealogy, posted October 2, 2019, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/10/weathervane-wednesday-fossilized-bee.html: accessed [access date]).
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